Windsor-Essex hospitals stick with COVID-19 mask policy

·1 min read
Windsor Regional Hospital's Ouellette Campus is shown in a file photo. (Mike Evans/CBC - image credit)
Windsor Regional Hospital's Ouellette Campus is shown in a file photo. (Mike Evans/CBC - image credit)

Mask mandates for visitors, patients and staff at Windsor-Essex hospitals will continue to remain in place, as a provincial policy expires.

Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH), Erie Shores Healthcare (ESHC) and Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare (HDGH) said Wednesday that despite a downswing in COVID-19 levels, masking policies and procedures will stay in effect.

The decision "takes into consideration the higher-risk environment in which WRH, ESHC and HDGH operates with many elderly and immune compromised patients," the hospitals said in a joint media release.

Though most Ontario mask mandates were lifted in March, the province's chief medical officer of health kept a directive in place for some high-risk settings including hospitals. It will expire on Saturday, June 11.

It's now up to individual hospitals to decide whether to keep mask rules in place, the media release stated.

More from CBC Windsor

 


Our goal is to create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passions. In order to improve our community experience, we are temporarily suspending article commenting

Latest Stories

  • Cape Breton women behind massive tax fraud handed prison terms

    Four Cape Breton women who attempted to make millions in a fraudulent tax scheme made a last-minute effort at sentencing Thursday to defend their crimes. But it was too little too late as Lydia Saker and daughters Nadia Saker, Angela MacDonald and Georgette Young were handed prison terms ranging from two to four years. At the start of their hearing, the women asked Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Robin Gogan for more time to meet with a family doctor and review medical documents. "We believe s

  • Putin promises Belarus nuclear-capable missiles to counter 'aggressive' West

    MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday told his counterpart from Belarus that Moscow would supply Minsk with missile systems capable of carrying nuclear weapons, the Russian foreign ministry said. At a meeting with Putin in St Petersburg, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko expressed concern about the "aggressive", "confrontational" and "repulsive" policies of its neighbours Lithuania and Poland. He asked Putin to help Belarus mount a "symmetrical response" to what he said were nuclear-armed flights by the U.S.-led NATO alliance near Belarus' borders.

  • N. Korea approves new front-line army duties amid tensions

    SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un doubled down on his nuclear arms buildup to overwhelm “hostile forces” at a key meeting where military leaders approved unspecified new operational duties for front-line army units. Members of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Military Commission decided to supplement an “important military action plan” on the duties of front-line troops and further strengthen the country’s nuclear war deterrent, state media said Friday. North Korea has

  • Emotions run high inside Kansas abortion clinic

    Abortions continued Friday inside a Wichita clinic. Under current law, Kansas does not ban most abortions until the 22nd week of pregnancy. (June 24)

  • Buenos Aires fire leaves 5 dead, 30 hospitalized

    A fire that broke out on early Thursday morning in an apartment building in Buenos Aires claimed the lives of five members of the same family and sent 30 residents to different hospitals due to carbon monoxide inhalation. (June 23) (AP video: Victor R. Caivano)

  • Cost of living hurting people's ability to get prescriptions they need, say experts

    The rising cost of living has left many people in Newfoundland and Labrador making decisions about where to put their money, including whether they can afford to fill their prescriptions, according to two industry figures. Janice Audeau, president of the Pharmacists' Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, says the cost of medication is another burden as the prices of gas and groceries continue to rise, with the impact felt by seniors who come to the pharmacy. "Someone might come in and say, '

  • Key COVID-19 numbers in the Ottawa area for June 24

    The latest Ottawa update Wastewater The level of coronavirus detected in Ottawa's wastewater is stable. The most recent data available (the bold red line in the graph below) shows the seven-day average calculated on June 21 is about three times what it was in early March, before the most recent spike. Ottawa Public Health considers these levels to be high. Hospitals Six Ottawa residents are in local hospitals for treatment of COVID-19, according to Friday's Ottawa Public Health (OPH) update. The

  • Trudeau meets with Commonwealth leaders in Rwanda

    Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attempted to win over a divided group of Commonwealth leaders in a series of executive and bilateral meetings with his international counterparts. He sat down for meetings with the leaders of Rwanda, Zambia and Antigua and Barbuda, hoping to bring countries onside with Canada's climate goals and its view of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

  • Newsroom Ready: Chaos continues at Montreal passport office

    Chaos continues at Montreal passport office Description (to go with video, approx. 2 sentences): People continue to camp out outside a downtown Montreal passport office as they try to obtain a new travel document. Many say they're travelling within 48 hours and are desperate after applying for passports months ago.

  • Thousands of students celebrate graduation in Saint Petersburg

    Thousands of people gathered along the Neva River in St Petersburg on Friday night to witness the traditional 'Scarlet Sails' festival.View on euronews

  • Group asks for living wages, labor rights for 2026 World Cup

    With this year's World Cup in Qatar clouded by labor and human rights issues, there's a push for the North American cities awarded games for the 2026 tournament to commit to livable wages, equitable hiring and worker protection. The Dignity 2026 coalition has brought together groups including the AFL-CIO, Human Rights Watch and the Independent Supporters Council to work with FIFA and the individual host cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The coalition has met several times in the pa

  • Abortion access in Canada remains unequal

    While there are no laws restricting access to abortion in Canada, access remains a major issue in parts of the country, and not all women who want one can get one.

  • Pope hails families, blasts 'culture of waste' after Roe

    ROME (AP) — Pope Francis celebrated families Saturday and urged them to shun “selfish” decisions that are indifferent to life as he closed out a big Vatican rally a day after the U.S. Supreme Court ended constitutional protections for abortion. Francis didn’t refer to the ruling or explicitly mention abortion in his homily. But he used the buzzwords he has throughout his papacy about the need to defend families and to condemn a “culture of waste” that he believes is behind the societal acceptanc

  • Tornado touched down near Morris, Sask. on Thursday, Environment Canada confirms

    A tornado touched down near Morris, Sask., Thursday afternoon, Environment and Climate Change Canada has confirmed. As hail, rain and dramatic cloud formations filled the sky on Thursday, ECCC issued several broadcast-intrusive alerts throughout the night for the second time in a week. "We had one confirmed tornado touched down near Morris at 5:38 p.m. CST," ECCC meteorologist Terri Lang said Friday. "As for the reports that we've received, it just touched down in a field and didn't do any damag

  • Army Guard troops risk dismissal as vaccine deadline looms

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Up to 40,000 Army National Guard soldiers across the country — or about 13% of the force — have not yet gotten the mandated COVID-19 vaccine, and as the deadline for shots looms, at least 14,000 of them have flatly refused and could be forced out of the service. Guard soldiers have until Thursday to get the vaccine. And according to data obtained by The Associated Press, between 20% to 30% of the Guard soldiers in six states are not vaccinated, and more than 10% in 43 other sta

  • Invasive plant known as Giant Hogweed discovered in Don Valley area, Metrolinx says

    A plant considered to be a dangerous weed has been discovered in the area of the Don Valley, Metrolinx says in a warning to the public. Metrolinx, the province's regional transit agency, said in the warning this week that its crews found Giant Hogweed, a noxious and leafy plant that is an invasive species, along the tracks of the Richmond Hill train corridor and in Toronto parkland recently. The plant is growing near the rail corridor between E.T. Seton Park in the east and the Bayview on-ramp t

  • Prince Charles says it’s OK to cut ties with the monarchy

    As leaders gather for the Commonwealth Summit in Rwanda, Prince Charles tells them it is OK to cut ties with the monarchy. Barbados removed the Queen as head of state last year and six other Caribbean nations have said they will do the same.

  • New homelessness response team holds first meeting as Happy Valley-Goose Bay's problem deepens

    A government-led team of politicians and Indigenous leaders held its first meeting Wednesday as residents in Happy Valley-Goose Bay urged swift action to address a growing number of transient people in the community. The Acute Response Team, established this week, seeks to find immediate solutions to a problem that the town's mayor says has become a safety issue. "We brought the concerns that our community was in a crisis situation because we had seen an increase in that escalation in terms of t

  • Canada's Summer McIntosh, 15, wins 2nd gold medal at world aquatics

    Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh capped her world championship debut with her second victory and fourth medal, lowering her junior record time to four minutes 32.04 seconds in the women's 400-metre individual medley on Saturday in Budapest, Hungary. The 15-year-old McIntosh, who went 4:34.86 on April 9 at national trials, took the lead early in Saturday's race and battled throughout with American Katie Grimes, who touched the wall in 4:32.67 for her second silver of these worlds after placing se

  • Biden signs major federal gun safety legislation

    President Joe Biden on Saturday signed the most sweeping gun violence bill in decades, a bipartisan compromise that seemed unimaginable until a recent series of mass shootings, including the massacre at a Texas elementary school. (June 25)